Supermarket/Grocery

New York -- Fairway Group Holdings announced that Dorothy Carlow will join the supermarket company as chief merchandising officer, effective Nov. 3. Carlow will lead the merchandising team and the company's buying and sales strategies.  

Supervalu president and CEO Sam Duncan is encouraged with the progress the retailer is making and why not. Identical store sales in the company’s Save-A-Lot units were up 6.5% in the second quarter.

The company’s total sales for the period ended September 6, increased 1.8% to $4.02 billion while profits declined to $31 million, or 11 cents a share, from $40 million, or 15 cents a share. When adjusted for some non-recurring items, second quarter earnings were $34 million, or 13 cents a share.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is planning to sharply cut back the growth of its U.S. supercenters in favor of smaller-format stores and acccelerated e-commerce and digital investments.    

Minneapolis -- Few companies (5%) believe they are “advanced” when it comes to omnichannel capabilities, and between 35% and 40% believe they are lagging, according to a report by SPS Commerce, a provider of enterprise retail cloud services. The company’s third annual “Retail Insight” report confirms the cross-functional challenges retailers, suppliers and logistics firms face as they build omnichannel capabilities into their operations.   

Pittsburgh –- Multi-format food, fuel and pharmacy retailer Giant Eagle Inc. is piloting smart devices from Brickstream for capturing and analyzing in-store data at six stores. Brickstream’s hardware and software solutions deliver the equivalent of “clickstream” analytics for the brick-and-mortar world.   

Cincinnati –- Millennial consumers age 18-29 seek sessions with experts to assist the purchase process. According to U.S. consumer survey research conducted by LoyaltyOne in September 2014, 84% of Millennials said that being able to redeem rewards/loyalty program points for a session or consultation with a chef or nutritionist would motivate them to shop more with that grocer.  

Gainesville, Fla. -- Celebration Pointe has begun site work on a five-lane, $12 million bridge that will span Interstate 75. Celebration Pointe partner Ralph Contimade the announcement.  

New York -- Total Halloween sales are expected to grow 3% to total $7.29 billion in 2014, due to improving economic conditions and employment levels. According to a new study from market research firm IBISWorld Inc., costume sales are expected to rise 6% to $2.76 billion, spurred by more theme parties and social media photo sharing.  

Hamilton, N.J. -- Voxware, a voice application company, announced that Whole Foods Market saw productivity gains of 25-35% after implementing the latest version of Voxware’s voice solution in the grocer’s largest distribution center. Whole Foods has expanded its deployment of Voxware Voice Management Suite to its other nine DCs with scheduled completion in Oct. 2014.  

Whole Foods Market is helping its shoppers make a choice between good, better and best when it comes to the level of growing practices they want to support when purchasing fruits, vegetables and flowers.